Berberine azoles as antimicrobial agents: synthesis, biological evaluation and their interactions with human serum albumin

A series of berberine azoles was synthesized and characterized by NMR, IR, MS and HRMS spectroscopy. All the newly prepared compounds were screened for their antimicrobial activities. Bioactivity assays manifested that most of the berberine azoles exhibited good antimicrobial activities. Especially compound 7a displayed remarkable anti-Proteus vulgaris and anti-Candida mycoderma efficacies, which were comparable to or even better than for the reference drugs. The binding behavior of compound 7a to human serum albumin (HSA) revealed that hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds play important roles in the association of compound 7a with HSA. Molecular docking experiments showed that compound 7a has moderate affinity to HSA, and the theoretical calculations were in accordance with the experimental results.